Substantial progress was made overnight Saturday restoring power to households impacted by a massive outage this weekend.

As of early Sunday morning, Newfoundland Power reported by Twitter that 25,000 customers were left without power on the island. That was down dramatically from the 140,000 powerless customers early Saturday evening.

Sixty-minute rotating outages commenced this morning. Newfoundland Power said this was necessary to help manage the electricity system. It also stressed the continued need to conserve energy.

Speaking with reporters yesterday, Newfoundland Power vice-president of engineering Gary Smith said crews from Prince Edward Island would arrive in Newfoundland on Sunday and begin work Monday to help replace blown fuses on power lines.

Newfoundland Power and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro held two media briefings on Saturday. No briefings were scheduled for Sunday morning.

•••

(Earlier story)

Newfoundland Power expects work to sort out the aftermath of a massive power outage will go beyond this weekend and continue into Monday and possibly even Tuesday.

That was according to Newfoundland Power vice-president of engineering Gary Smith, who spoke during an early-evening news conference Saturday in St. John's.

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro vice-president of engineering services John MacIssac said a second trip to the power grid took place that afternoon. Smith referred to that incident as a setback.

As of 6 p.m., approximately 140,000 Newfoundland Power customers did not have power, compared to 125,000 as of 1 p.m. When the first outage took place following a transformer fire at the Sunnyside terminal station, over 190,000 of the electric utility company's 257,000 customers had no power.

When asked if the fire was still burning, MacIssac would only say the situation was under control and isolated.

Smith said more people will continue to regain power overnight and into Sunday. The biggest issue for crews has been accessing areas where fuses need to be replaced as feeders get reconnected. Newfoundland Power staff are currently working on 16 hour shifts.

As home get reconnected, Smith said it is essential for energy consumers to conserve where possible, as so many homes getting reconnected at the same time creates a strain on the system that leads to blown fuse. Earlier in the day, he said that Newfoundland Power technicians expect to replace thousands of fuses.

Workers from Prince Edward Island are due to arrive on Monday. Smith said contractors are also expected to assist Newfoundland Power's efforts beginning that day.

Fire and Emergency Services director Dave McCormack said that while it was within the authority of the Municipal Affairs Minister to declare a state of emergency, taking such a measure has not been recommended. He said his agency has consulted with communities when asked and made note of some taking a proactive approach in setting up warming sites for residents living in cool conditions.

•••

(Earlier story)

Officials with Newfoundland Power and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro say progress is being made in efforts to restore power to those impacted by a massive outage on Saturday, but some will have to wait longer than others.

Speaking with reporters Saturday afternoon, Hydro vice-president of engineering services John MacIsaac said the majority of Newfoundland Power customers impacted by the transformer fire at the Sunnyside terminal station should have power back within the next 24 hours.

Newfoundland Power vice-president of engineering Gary Smith said it would be premature to assume there will not be more work to do on Sunday.

The massive outage started shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday following a substantial winter storm. St. John's experienced the most snowfall at 38 centimetres, and many areas experienced strong winds exceeding 100 kilometres per hours.

Over 190,000 Newfoundland Power customers were initially impacted by the outage. The electric utility company serves 257,000 customers across the province. By 1 p.m., that figure was down to 125,000. The majority of those customers are located on the Avalon, Bonavista and Burin peninsulas.

MacIsaac said the fire was under control and that volunteer firefighters from Sunnyside were at the scene on standby. There were no injuries.

The transformer fire caused a loss of power to the grid. Newfoundland Power is now gradually reconnecting to the grid.

Smith said this process can take time because when every feeder is reconnected, it must deal with an immediate massive demand for energy with so many heaters and electric devices suddenly making use of power. This cause blown fuses.

Smith expects Newfoundland Power employees with have a replace thousands of fuses as a result. He said all available resources have been deployed, adding that the company has also reached out to contractors.

To help with the situation, he encourage people to anticipate the need to conserve energy before power is restored by turning down thermostats and switching off breakers that do not need to be used.

MacIsaac said Hydro had its resource ready to respond to any issues that could crop up due to the storm. He said this contributed to a quick response time with respect to the equipment failure in Sunnyside.

Fire and Emergency Services NL CEO Sean Dutton encouraged municipalities and local service districts to review their emergency plans in light of the power outage. He suggested they may consider opening warming centres to help residents cope with the cold. The agency had not received any requests for help as of mid-afternoon Saturday.

•••

(Earlier story)

A transformer fire at Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro's Sunnyside terminal station has been linked to a widespread power outage impacting most of Newfoundland.

According to Hydro's official Twitter account, some customers have since had their power restored, but others will have to wait several hours for that to happen.

Hydro said the Holyrood generating plant tripped due to the loss of power to the grid and that it could take several hours to restart.

A spokeswoman for Newfoundland Power has told The Telegram by email that the outage is impacting approximately half of its customers — 125,000 in all.

•••

(Earlier story)

Crews with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro are now in Sunnyside attempting to determine why most of Newfoundland is without power Saturday morning.

Earlier Saturday, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro confirmed the outages were not related to rotating outages that have been ongoing for the last few days because of increased demand on the power supply. It said severe weather was the most probable cause of the outages.

The power outages stretch across Newfoundland from St. John's to Port aux Basques. It does not includes the Northern Peninsula.

•••

(Earlier Story)

Those who were fed up with rotating power outages resulting from unseasonably high demand on the province's power supply have a new problem to deal with, as a massive unscheduled outage has left much of Newfoundland without power.

According to Newfoundland Power's website, the outage effects almost the entire island-portion of the province, excluding the Northern Peninsula, an area that Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro serves. No estimate has been provided for power restoration.

On its official Twitter account, the electric utility company initially reported outages on Bell Island resulting from a winter storm that dumped almost 40 centimetres of snow on the area. It said crews were being dispatched to Bell Island to investigate.

Shortly thereafter, the outage spread. Newfoundland Power's website reports outages on the Avalon, Burin and Bonavista peninsulas, the Clarenville area, Central Newfoundland, areas in the vicinity of Corner Brook and Deer Lake and those near Stephenville and Port aux Basques.

“Please be advised, current outages taking place across the island are resulting from severe weather, not because of rotating outages,” said Newfoundland Power through its Twitter account.

Newfoundland was recently subjected to rotating outages because unseasonably cold temperatures was placing a strain on the island's power supply. NL Hydro was asking people with power to conserve energy as much as possible.

More information will be provided on this story as it becomes available.

Comments

Comments

Your name*Email*Comment*

Recent comments

Bob B

January 06, 2014 - 05:04

Why are all Major sites on the Island not being asked to shut down to conserve Power? Bull Arm, Long Harbour & Kiewit Marystown use much more electricity than do all the Island schools combined and enough to surely keep several small towns lit. Very Irresponsible & Inconsiderate on their parts. Just shows again Governments view Oil Production is more important than keeping their citizens warm!!

Why Aren't Bull Arm, Long Harbour & Kiewit Offshore Services in Marystown, shut down the same as the schools are for at least a couple of days? There's more electricity running through these places than all the schools on the Island Combined! Could easily keep several small towns lit up! Very Inconsiderate & Irresponsible!!!

A transformer outage is a serious problem and not something which can be fixed over night. If a main transformer needs replacing it could take months, even if they can find a replacement. Even in London UK it took nearly 2 months.

Lots of power here in Corner Brook.Drove by city hall on Thursday night on our way to check on my wifes 88 year old mother because she had no power. Almost every light in the building was on and all the lights in the parking lot were on.

Does city hall have a backup generator , the rest of west st was out most of the night.

Mandy

January 04, 2014 - 20:40

"Smith expects Newfoundland Power employees with have a replace thousands of fuses as a result. He said all available resources have been deployed, adding that the company has also reached out to contractors."
Proofreading anyone?